Robert Walton Victor Frankenstein And The Daemon example essay topic

Frankenstein Novel Evaluation Form, Structure and Plot Frankenstein, an epistolary novel by Mary Shelley, deals with epistemology, is divided into three volumes, each taking place at a distinct time. Volume I highlights the correspondence in letters between Robert Walton, an Arctic seafarer, and his sister, Margaret Saville. Walton's letters to Margaret basically explain his expedition at sea and introduce Victor Frankenstein, the protagonist of the novel. Volume II is essentially Frankenstein's narrative, told in his point of view, with much action, death, and many more characters. There are a few chapters within this volume in which the monster narrates his adventures while alone. Volume displays Victor's death and the monsters portrayal as a desperate character.

Robert Walton also writes one final letter to his sister, explaining the remainder of Victor's story. The story is written chronologically, but because Victor's narrative brings about a flashback, it seems as if Victor is found, then the story shifts back in time to Victor's youth and works its way back into present time. Volume I and Volume are written in Walton's perspective but Volume II is written mostly in Frankenstein's point of view. The work follows the patterns of an epistolary novel in that letters introduce the plot, the plot itself follows, and then letters to commence the plot end the story. The actual happenings of Frankenstein cover a two year period, but this does not include Victor's narrative in Volume II. Characters The characters that serve as narrators at some time during the story, Robert Walton Victor Frankenstein, and the daemon, may be considered believable.

Walton describes his aspirations and limited findings, which lack room for inaccuracies. Frankenstein's narrative, which seems somewhat farfetched at first with the introduction of the monster, proves itself as believable due to the raw emotions he expresses. The monster's narrative is also believable because it just accounts for what he had done to fill time while alone in the woods. Victor Frankenstein, one of the novel's round characters, may be described as a creative, knowledgeable, and reserved man in his middle ages. The novel is unique in that Victor Frankenstein is both the protagonist and antagonist, consequentially creating a conflict of man versus himself.

While Victor is the amazing scientist transcending scientific barriers to create an awesome monster, he is also the one creating the daemon which ends up destroying his life and reeking havoc upon society. Victor is noted for blaming himself throughout the entire plot, which characterizes much of his personality. He claims, "I, not in deed, but in effect, was the true murderer" (63). He, therefore, blames himself for the murders of William, Justine, and Henry. The monster is created towards the beginning of the story as a middle-aged creature. He may be characterized as manipulating, and intelligent, and from kind by nature to malevolent.

He is a round character, is described as being eight feet tall, and simply hideous. The monster kills Victor's younger brother, friends, and lover, and does not stop until Victor himself is ruined and killed. He may easily be considered Victor's downfall. The monster is never named, so he is referred to as his description, a monster or a daemon.

He wants, more than anything, a companion. The monster tells Victor, "You are my creator, but I am your master" (116) after his heart turns cold from lack of love. Robert Walton, who the reader never gets much of a physical description about although still a round character, is another middle-aged character who may be described as adventurous, charismatic, and curious. He works well with those around him, has a strong relationship with his sister, and builds one with Victor.

He plays the role of retelling Victor's story and marks both the beginning and end of the novel. Robert's love for his sister best characterizes his personality which the reader does not have much of a chance to analyze. He ends a letter to her with, "Farewell, my dear, excellent, Margaret. Heaven shower down blessings on you, and save me, that I may again and again testify my gratitude for all your love and kindness". The love towards her is visible Elizabeth Lavenza is a character just five years younger than Victor that has held his affection since the beginning of the novel.

She may be described as caring, beautiful, and gossipy. She is described as the one reason Victor has to come back home and to continue the fight against the monster with. To the monster, she is Victor's one weakness. The monster realizes this and murders Elizabeth, leading Victor on a life-long chase of the monster.

Elizabeth's love for Victor is just as long as his love for her. She writes, .".. But as brother and sister often entertain a lively affection towards each other, without desiring a more intimate union, may not such also be our case?" (130). Elizabeth asks for their quick marriage and confirms their love for one another. Elizabeth is clearly a flat character.

Henry Clerval is a smart, rational, and reserved friend of Victor's who shares much of his hobbies and passions such as being alone much of the time and enjoying nature. Henry fully fits the definition of a "true friend", especially when he visits Victor with the consequence of a long grueling trip to the University of Inglosdat. In the novel, Henry plays the role of Victor's right-hand man who Victor goes to for all kinds of support. Henry is tragically killed toward the end of the novel by the monster. His friendly affection and understanding for Victor, though, may be viewed when he says "My dear Frankenstein, are you always to be unhappy? My dear friend, what has happened?" He sees Victor crying, in this scene, and immediately goes to find out what is wrong.

Henry is only a flat character in the novel. Point of View and Tone Frankenstein is written in three different points of view with each character exhibiting a different tone in his or her point of view. Walton writes to his sister in the first person as an observer recounting his encounters. For this reason, his tone is factual, and, due to his many aspirations, hopeful. Victor picks up the narrative in the same perspective and explains what happened to Robert Walton. Victor's tone is a discouraged one, and this is mainly due to the monster's effect on him.

This tone of discouragement may also be labeled a tone of fear. The monster, the third narrator, on the contrary, starts with a tone of fear and ends with a tone of fearlessness. He is first afraid of the world around him which is unknown. He is a student to the world, turned cold by unkindness from his creator. He then becomes cruel and fearless, a transition which may be tracked from his tone.

Setting The novel is set in three major settings, the first of which is the University of Inglostadt in Va varia. While the exact time period is unknown, it may be inferred from environmental clues to be early in the twentieth century. It is a great example of the thirst for knowledge described by Victor to Henry Clerval, his friend. It is only in this setting that thoughts of knowledge, experimentation, and discovery are discussed. Another major setting is in Geneva, Switzerland, among forests and nature's beauty where Victor is able to get his mind off the monster and escape into this fantasy world. It is described as an unusual dark and large area, very similar to the description of the monster.

Walotn's boat, the last major setting, is where the letters and narrative all take place. It is basically the "home" of the story. Diction and Syntax Mary Shelley's unique style in both diction and syntax are visible in Frankenstein. In an attempt to display the monster as a creature with feelings, she employs a form of "sentimental" language. Simple, emotional words such as "desolate, miserable, and solitude" are used to explain his lifestyle. He adds that he lives a "life of agony", a final dagger in the heart of the reader.

Also, the same scheme of sentiment is used to describe the murders of Elizabeth, Justine, Henry, and William with the intent of demonstrating the reason for the daemon's evil acts. Later, he even attempts to convince the reader his rationale in murdering his creator. In one scene, Victor finally gives in to creating the daemon a companion. His hate, though, may not be ignored.

The monster is referred to by Victor as a "friend,"a Creature", and the coup de grace, a "miserable wretch". The spiteful words used by Victor show his passionate hate towards the monster. The shifting of writing is visible with each shift in point of view. Shelley employs simple sentences to demonstrate the monster's inability to speak fluently and coherently. However, the monster's time at the De Lacey family causes him to begin speaking in compound-complex sentences. The syntax he uses therein is always complex, establishing him as a learned individual.

Symbolism and Imagery Two clear symbols that recur incessantly throughout the novel are those of light and fire. Light is used as a symbol in the novel to embody knowledge and enlightenment. As Walton asked his sister, "What may not be expected in a country of eternal light?" (11). With this viewpoint in mind, Walton, and, in essence, Mary Shelley, is displaying the undiscovered world as dark and desolate.

To discover all that is undiscovered is to shed light upon it. The other symbol, fire, is utilized by Shelley as a legendary allusion. The fire that appears in the text of Frankenstein symbolizes the fire that was given to mankind by the Greek God Prometheus. Prometheus did not only give man a substance, though; he gave man knowledge. He gave man the same knowledge that Victor and Walton are looking for. He gave man the same knowledge that would eventually come back to hurt Prometheus.

Essentially, Shelley is expressing the fact that their fire is our knowledge, but our fire still remains a secret. Discovering this knowledge, while dangerous in its own respect, is necessary. The other main symbol found in Frankenstein is the picture of Victor's mother, Caroline Beaufort, found in William's necklace. The picture is a symbol representing a mother's love for her son as his protector. This may be seen as a form of foreshadowing, though.

The only child with a charm from his late mother is the first to die. On the other hand, it may be a symbol that Victor's mother was closest to William because he is the youngest and that he will be the first to spend eternity with his mother. The daemon explains, "As I fixed my eyes on the child, I saw something glittering on his breast. I took it; it was a portrait of a most lovely woman" (97). Figurative Language Frankenstein is made up of a wide array of imagery, allusions, and metaphors. The metaphors mainly aid with issues of emotion, making them clearer.

For example, Victor describes, "the wounded deer dragging its fainting limbs to some untrodden brake, there to gaze upon, the arrow which had pierced it... ". Of course, with such an explanation, the reader is painted a clear picture of the emotions running through his mind when he learns about Justine's death. Theme The main theme of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is that knowledge is dangerous. In other words, ignorance is bliss.

Both Frankenstein and Walton pursue the unknown in order to gain more knowledge and neither achieves his goal. Frankenstein dies depressed and lonely while Walton lives on in uncertainty between icebergs. The book displays knowledge as the factor that places these two men in these bad situations, making knowledge dangerous. The book is a novel, though, meaning that there is progress in the story and the characters learn from their experiences. Walton uses Frankenstein's experience to earn from that knowledge is, in fact, dangerous. It killed Frankenstein, and before Walton could die a similar fate, he turns back.

The theme is visible trough out the story. For example, towards the beginning of the novel, Victor expresses his thirst for knowledge and discovery by quixotically stating, "Wealth was an inferior object; but what glory would attend the discovery, if I could banish disease from the human frame, and render man invulnerable to any but a violent death". (37). Knowledge is being carefully set up here to be a great thing. The status of knowledge only falls as the book goes on. The monster becomes a victim of the same theme when he experiences knowledge and understands that it is not all it is cut out to be.

The monster exclaims, Was I, then, a monster, a blot upon the earth, from which all men fled and whom all men disowned? I cannot describe to you the agony that these reflections inflicted upon me; I tried to dispel them, but sorrow only increased with knowledge. Oh that I had forever remained in my native wood, nor known nor felt beyond the sensations of hunger, thirst, and heat! Of what a strange nature is knowledge! (119). The theme only heightens toward the end when Frankenstein sputters his dying words: "Farewell, Walton!

Seek happiness in tranquility and avoid ambition, even if it be the only apparently innocent one of distinguishing yourself in the science and discoveries. Yet why do I say this? I have myself been blasted in these hopes, yet another may succeed". (215). It is only appropriate that his dying words confront the main them of the story. In essence, Frankenstein is confirming that knowledge is, in fact, dangerous, but even more dangerous is not pursuing knowledge for if one were to succeed, he would open that field up to all of mankind.

Significance of Title There seems to be no true significance of the title Frankenstein. It seems merely to be named after the story's main character, protagonist, antagonist, and, of course, its roundest character.